Coming off of a brilliant debut record called Vital, Morgxn has come back with an equally impressive “stripped” EP of the strongest selections from the debut into re-imagined tracks in Vital : Blue. It’s on this EP that Morgan Karr showcases his staying power as an Indie Pop artist with no other distractions besides a piano, carefully placed string sections, and his powerful voice.

While most of the record includes stripped-down versions of the songs from his debut, the new EP also includes a brand new track in “Blue” featuring Walk the Moon’s front-man Nicholas Petricca. On the opening verse, Morgxn sets the tone for the song when he sings, “Blue like the water, blue like the sea/Blue like the wind when it’s carrying me/I’m home, you’re home/Red like my heartache, red like I beat/Red like my mother knows when it’s me/If I call, will you come?” The track flows nicely into the chorus that features self-reflective and self-doubting lyrics that paint the artist at his most vulnerable. When Petricca duets with Morgxn in the second verse, the power of the track reaches an early crescendo of beauty.

“Home” follows the nice duet, with Morgxn taking the full reins of the song with some thunderous piano strokes backed by his trademark croon. When Karr goes into his higher vocal register on the chorus, the track soars to even greater heights. As Karr finds his comfort in reminiscing about the things that feel most at home in his life, it’s hard to not buy into the imagery painted here. “I’m going back home to the place where I belong/There’s nothing like it, nothing like it/Take me back home/Where the blood runs through my soul/I can’t describe it, there’s nothing like it.”

The third track, “Harpoon (How Does It Feel)” features some cool string variations of the song, and allows Karr the space to fully imagine his vision for his music. As great as the opening song is, this song turned out to be the one I kept coming back to.

The closing duo of “Carry the Weight” and “Me Without You” round out the impressive EP by continuing to hone in on the strengths of Morgxn as a solo artist. Many fans were clamoring for Karr to show off his vocal prowess and the power of his songwriting craft in this EP, and he definitely delivered for his fan-base. While longtime fans of Morgxn will have plenty to bask in on this laid-back record, there is still a plethora of noteworthy moments for new fans of the artist to get wrapped up in the simplicity of a singer-songwriter inviting us to listen along as he brings us that much closer to his unique and detail-oriented songwriting process. While the full-length record may be a better introduction to Morgxn, this EP serves as a great reminder of the journey being just as important as the end or the start to a song.